Moments in time
by Jinseinomizu
Summary: Auron and Rikku had met before Yuna's journey. They shared moments throughout it. And they're always part of each other's story.
1. Rescue

Prologue

"Hey, give it!"

Shouts echoed over the Sanubia sands as two children raced down the dunes toward the ruins so populous on the island of Bikanel, home to the Al Bhed people so hated by Yevonites. The leader, a young boy with a thin strip of blond hair running down the center of his scalp, laughed teasingly as he ran, the semi-circle of a recording sphere cupped in his small hand. "Gotta catch me!"

"That's not fair! You're bigger than me, Ciku!" The second child was a smaller girl with a shock of wavy blond hair that hung halfway to her neck, punctuated by strands dark with sweat. Despite her acquaintance with the desert heat, growing up among the high yellow dunes, running through the soft sand in heavy boots still wore her out.

However, anger lent her its strength, and she launched herself at his back and they went tumbling down a dune. They wrestled for control of the little shining object. Finally when they rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill among some ancient ruins, she wrenched it out of his hands with a cry of triumph.

"Geez, Rikku," he said, rubbing the growing lump on his shaved head. "You coulda taken it from me without the tackling. Don't break it," he said suddenly, with worry, as she turned it over and knocked gently on the glass. "This is the best one I've ever found."

"I'll be careful," she said with childish diffidence, her bottom lip sticking out. They sat in the shadow of the ruin on the warm sand, the sun not having yet struck it in full strength. Despite the miles of open sand between them and the Al Bhed Home, a huge metallic structure in the middle of the desert, they both knew the desert like the backs of their hands. They weren't lost.

"I found it on the Spira-side beach," Ciku said proudly, looking down at the little sphere. They were rare on Bikanel, as there was no sphere pool available to collect the material needed for them. Whenever the Al Bhed needed a sphere, they either had to risk a market purchase from Luca or go to the Macalania Woods and bring some of the water home. "I figure if I could get into the bottom panel, I could program on it, cause the recording button is broken."

"I think there's something on here," Rikku said, childishly shaking the sphere when the watery inside flickered with a red image. "We should play it back."

"It's probably just a stupid Yevonite teaching-" Just as her brother began to reach for it, an image flicked into life inside the sphere and spastically projected it above the arch of the top.

The man that appeared there looked young, maybe no more than twenty, but his voice sounded weary. His arm hung limply by his side, and his shoulder-length black hair was loosely tied back into a braid. His eyes were fascinating, but one of them was scarred and forced closed. The other was a striking golden-brown, looking as if it were piercing into their very souls. But, despite his apparent strength, he seemed weak and…sad, somehow. The sphere was damaged and his voice was lost in the crackling, but Rikku was struck by how handsome he was.

"I can't tell what he's saying," Ciku said huffily and reached for the volume, only increasing the amount of static.

Suddenly, a tall shadow rounded the corner. "That's mine," it said in a low, gravelly tone.

Rikku screamed when she heard it and whirled. Ciku launched himself at the stranger in a defensive mechanism. She knew her brother had some magic skills, but wasn't eager for him to use them after the disaster of the last time. She tried to grab the sphere and run, but the stranger had effortlessly brushed off her brother against the ruin wall and through a broken window to the other side and come after her. With a surprisingly gentle hand, he grasped the back of her orange shirt and lifted her off of the sand, with her screaming all the while.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said quickly, readjusting his grip so that he wouldn't strangle her as he reached for the sphere that she held so dearly. "Give me that."

"It's mine. My brother found it," she said in a tiny voice, her screaming now muffled into terrified silence. Then, the reason for his attack on them hit her like a desert wind in the face. It was the man from the sphere. "Who- who are you?"

"Auron," he said, dropping his name with little to no emphasis, like it held no meaning for him. "And the sphere is mine. Even if you find something, it still belongs to someone else." Forcefully, yet without injury, he pulled the little half-sphere from her grip, still holding onto her shirt. Then, without ceremony, he plunked her onto the ground and turned to walk away.

Something intrigued her about him, and her fear abated by the second when she thought of how gentle he'd been in retrieving the sphere from two petulant children. "Wait," she said, tugging on the back of his coat. Despite the fact that she was eleven now, she'd grown very little and still barely reached to his waist. Ciku held this over her over day- literally.

He turned back to her with a look through slits of eyelids, as if not used to the light. It hit her then- he wasn't from here. She'd never seen him before. He wasn't Al Bhed. "You speak Al Bhed?"

"Someone I knew once was married to an Al Bhed," he said briefly. She detected in his words a deep emotion, like he was masking over a sorrow heavier than life can bear. "He taught me some."

"What happened to him?" She tilted her head. Her father Cid always told her that curiosity would be the end of her, but she couldn't help herself in asking about the story behind this odd stranger, in a desert where strangers were so rare.

He paused, giving her an odd look. She knew she'd jumped into a deeper lake than she'd seen in that question, but her stubborn defiance and bravery kept her looking straight up into his eyes with her swirled green ones. "He defeated Sin," he said softly.

"Oh," she said, almost like an exhalation of shock. He must be talking about Lord Braska, since he was so young. This must have been _the_ Auron, then. He was still alive?

"You're Auron?" She said with a gasp, backing off.

"Excuse me," he said, pocketing his sphere and turning away, taking several steps into the desert. However, before he went far, an earsplitting crash came from overhead, and Rikku screamed. One of the huge winged fiends of the desert had crashed into the ruined wall above with a shrill cry. She crouched in the sand, hoping to be hidden, but knowing that it had been stupidly foolish for her and Ciku to come by themselves to this desert without an adult. Ciku's magic was no match for this bird- they were finished.

Faster than she would have thought possible, she found herself staring into the back of Auron's leg, the flannel of his pants rubbing against her bare skin. She looked up to see his big, muscled hand gripping the black-wrapped handle of a long sword, decorated only with a red device near the hilt. He took up a stance, and when the beast rushed them in an aggressive charge, he swung.

She winced, waiting for a painful strike, but none came. When she opened her eyes, she found the body of the fiend staring her in the eye with a long tongue lolling out of its open mouth. But the terror was soon gone as its body evaporated into thousands of pyreflies, raining down around them like a rainbow rain. Auron was still standing over her, but his sword now stood point-down in the sand. He had vanquished the mighty fiend in one blow.

He turned to see her goggling at him, and let a slight smile crack. She seemed like a unique child, a child of a culture hated by Yevonites. They had that in common. "What's your name?" He asked as gently as he could through his low voice.

"Rikku," she said softly, extending her hand to him. He took it and shook once.

"Nice to meet you, Rikku."


	2. Thanks

Ten years later

The bay of Luca was cool on Rikku's bare feet that day, with the clouds running fleetly overhead in fluffy patterns. Swinging her feet in the bay, she watched the people on the other docks as they ran to and fro, making ready for the ships full of blitzball players to arrive the next day. Rumor had it that the Aurochs from the tiny island of Besaid, far off in the Southern Archipelago, had something special planned for this year's tournament. Of course, they were no matches for the Psyches.

"Go Psyches!" She laughed happily as she flicked a little of the water up from the surface and onto her bare legs. Despite their upcoming job, she preferred to remain out of her wetsuit- it was constricting and looked gross on her. She would have rather spent time in her favorite green shorts and old orange shirt. She'd had it lengthened and expanded as she grew- it had a special memory for her. The day she'd met Auron in the desert, for the first and last time, he'd held her up in the air in a gentle yet firm grip by the back of her neck.

She could just hear her father's voice. "_You need new clothes!"_ He'd barked at her in his imposing voice. _"You need to look like a gosh-darn woman now. What with Keyakku knocking at my door to marry you and every other Al Bhed male-"_

_"Chill out, Pops."_ She'd flicked him in the nose, which always disoriented him, and then walked away while he mumbled more protests to himself. True, she like Keyakku, and he obviously really liked her, but she didn't feel like getting married or dating just now. There was too much fun to be had!

And now that Yuna was…

She tried to put out of her mind what Cid and her brother were planning to do with Yuna and other summoners to protect them. She agreed with them- summoners shouldn't have to go and die to give the rest of the selfish Yevonites ten years of peace- but she thought that maybe if they just talked the summoners out of it… then they'd see that there was another way. Operation Mi'ihen had hope. And there had to be another way.

"Rikku!" Ciku addressed her in Al Bhed from the nearby ship. "Come and get these crates. We need to get ready to go!"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, lazily standing, her goggles dangling from around her neck. Her legs had lengthened nicely, even though she was still short. Her hands were gloved with the typical Al Bhed mechanical gloves, but she had painted her fingernails a bright, iridescent yellow in defiance. Cid had had a fit, but Rikku was the best there was with machina, so he couldn't complain too much. She meandered lazily over to the dock where Keyakku, Ciku, Heid, and Ulell worked, loading and unloading the ship with things for the tournament, the job, and the escape. They had plans.

"It's okay, Rikku," said Keyakku, smiling at her with his bright green eyes. "We can handle the crates." His hand brushed hers, and he blushed shyly. She smiled back at him.

"I'll go and get some more supplies for the outfitting, then." She waved at the four men- her brother pouting, Ulell shaking his head, Heid working silently, and Keyakku waving awkwardly back at her, gripping a smaller crate against his hip. Ciku smacked him, said something coarse, and Keyakku blushed bright red and continued loading.

Wandering off into Luca, Rikku brushed her blonde bangs in front of her eyes, tucked her hands behind her back, and walked blissfully through the pre-tournament crowds. For some reason, the crowds in Luca always seemed friendlier before a tournament. Less hostile to people who were different, somehow. Guado mixed with Ronso who talked affably to Kilikans who smiled at Al Bhed. Everyone seemed connected by a simple game with a ball. Rikku loved it.

She grinned at a little boy with a bright red balloon, and he gave her a shy smile and ran back to his mother's skirt. Walking a little further, Rikku wound up at the little landing before the Mi'ihen Highroad, peaceful and quiet today, as all the visitors for the tournament had already arrived from that direction. The ancient stones beneath her feet seemed content somehow, like they were rejoicing with the rest of the city. She leaned on the railing and looked down over the buildings and the roaming people. Yevonites, all of them.

She didn't hate them, but they were wrong. And dogmatic. And irritating in their own hate. The fact that the Al Bhed weren't allowed to partake in the hope that the rest of Spira so longed for was a thorn in their side, driven deeper by the fact that Sin was the cause for many of their difficulties. Why, only two weeks ago, on a job in Baaj, the creator of the spiral of death had surfaced near them, dragging someone that they'd rescued underwater with it.

Pity. Rikku had liked him- something about him seemed mysterious. Sure, the toxin had a harder effect on him than on anybody she'd ever met, but underneath all that prattle about Zanarkand- of all places- she could tell that he was a truly good person. Tidus, he said his name was. And he did have the physique of the blitzball player he claimed to be. Maybe, just maybe he'd be here… but he was probably dead. Almost no one survived one encounter with Sin, let alone two.

His bright blue eyes had seemed to pierce her. And the fact that he didn't care about her being Al Bhed had been sweet. He seemed grateful for the simplest things. He was a good fighter, too- wielding a sword, even underwater, had been effortless for him. Fiends had fallen before him, and despite his strength, he had a cool demeanor. Even though it could never have been- she was sure that he was some kind of Yevonite from Luca, in the way that he talked- she had, for only a second, seen a future with him.

Scuffling behind her drew her attention. She turned slowly, still hiding her eyes for fear of being discovered an Al Bhed, and saw someone she'd never expected to see again before the Farplane.

He was older, his shoulders sloped with long days and nights, but it was definitely Auron. She'd have recognized crystal-clear, sharp brown gaze anywhere. He moved slowly toward the balcony, dressed in the same clothes she'd last seen him in, but with his left arm resting inside of his jacket like a sling. He didn't seem to recognize her. _Of course not. It's been a really long time._

Finally, he drew up next to her, a small distance away, and rested on the railing. She could hear him breathing- or was that just her own heart racing? She drew a deep breath.

"Excuse me… Auron?"

Slowly, like an ice age melting, his head turned to face her. "What?"

"You are Auron!" Breathing a sigh of relief, she let loose her permanent grin. "Do you remember me? You saved me from a fiend in the desert once, a long time ago."

He took a moment, a long pause, staring into her eyes. Now that she knew him, she wasn't afraid to be proud of the green iris, penetrated by the black swirl of her pupil. He seemed to be judging her critically, debating whether to own to their acquaintance or not. Her heart palpitated, but she couldn't find the words to say among her own jumbled thoughts. Surprisingly, she wasn't afraid- just nervous. Excitedly nervous.

"Yes, I remember." As if this admission were an entire conversation, he turned back to his perusal of the city. After a long pause, he spoke softly again. "You haven't changed much in ten years."

"I have too!" She pouted, trying to treat him like an old friend. Ciku always said she made friends too quickly, but she ignored him, as usual. "I'm a good deal taller now. But you haven't changed much either. You look just like the last time I saw you."

He chuckled under his breath, a sound like rushing water. The ocean breeze ruffled his hair, tossing his long ponytail against his wide shoulder blade. He stood near her, nearly a foot taller. But Rikku, in her constant way, had no fear. "Much has happened. But all for good reason."

"What have you been doing?" She tried to make conversation, like a family friend long gone on a trip. "Seen anything cool?"

"Traveling. Fulfilling a promise to a friend." He looked down at her, close now. His black chestplate nearly brushed her, his muscular arms near enough to touch. She now noticed how heavily coated with scars they were. "I'm still working on it."

"What promise takes ten years?" Without thinking about it, Rikku raised a finger to her cheek in a motion of perplexity. Keyakku always told her it was cute, but he thought anything she did was cute.

"You'll find out eventually, I'm sure. He's wild."

"He?" She looked up at him now, his face casting a shadow down on her. Suddenly, an urge took her. She tried to find an excuse, but in her usual impulsive manner, she acted first and thought later. Without explanation, she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him.

"I wanted to thank you for saving my brother and I that day," she rushed, blushing as she scrambled for an explanation for this behavior. "After we took you back Home, you just disappeared without ever saying goodbye-"

For a few awful seconds, she was sure he was going to shove her away like a petulant child and stalk off, never to be seen again. But to her surprise and relief, she suddenly felt his strong hands around her back in a return of the embrace. Legends were human, too.

"You're welcome," he returned softly, his fingers barely touching the bare skin of her arm.

After a little bit, they separated again, and he straightened. "I'm going now," he said, as if in substitute for a goodbye. He straightened his crimson-red coat and turned quickly toward the stairway to go.

"Wait," she said, her entire body tingling from his warmth. "Will I ever see you again?"

He turned his head back over his shoulder with a small smile, barely visible over the top of his grey collar. "What do you think?"

She bit her lip and lowered her gaze for a second, then brought it back up cheerfully. "Maybe if I steal your sphere again?"

He chuckled before turning away. "Write your own story. I'm already in it."


	3. Tears

The Djose shore stood at the ready, the dark blue waves licking at the yellow sand under a clouded sky. It felt to Rikku as if the whole world were holding its breath, waiting for this last hope to work, waiting for the death to stop. For the first time in history, the Yevonites and the Al Bhed were working together. Against the enemy of this world.

Against Sin.

Rikku stood on a cliff nearly a mile from where the chosen warriors, aboard chocobos and on foot, stood in waiting as the command center above them released the Sinspawn. She saw it striking at someone, but she couldn't tell whom. Either way, before long, its head lolled back, and the deep breath began.

All of the brown Djose cliffs fell silent. Rikku hugged her small body, still bitterly regretting that she had taken the summoner assignment and not the Mi'ihen position. But her father probably would have shut that down, anyway. Too dangerous- heavy death tolls were guaranteed on her people. Still, as she looked down at the tower on the far side of the bay, she couldn't help feeling a little left out.

As she watched, she saw the people that had defeated the Sinspawn draw close to the edge of the cliff. She thought she just recognized one, but couldn't put a name on him. The others looked familiar too, but her attention was drawn to where they were looking.

Out in the water, there was a black shadow. A _huge_ black shadow, drawing nearer.

The Crusaders on the shore panicked in the heat of their fervor and rushed the water, where the small but dangerous Sinscales surfaced, digging their sharp claws into ready and warm flesh. She could just barely make out the sounds of pain and fervor coming from the shore where Crusaders and Al Bhed alike slashed at the enemy.

Cannon fire resounded from the cliff tops as the Al Bhed launched their forbidden machina at the bane of Spira's existence. It looked like a child tossing pebbles at wall- no reaction came from the beast. Its mouth opened in a roar, and suddenly, a bright light came from its body. No, its mouth.

Terror struck Rikku for her brethren, and even for the Crusaders. And for the summoner's party on the cliff. "Watch out!" She screamed at no one, but her voice was lost in the now strongly blowing wind. "Run! Don't let it fire!"

But, of course, they didn't hear.

A beam of pure energy, crackling in the open air, rushed eagerly at the beach. Dimly, as she squinted in the white sphere, she watched in horror as the silhouettes of the brave fighters simply… vaporized.

Her knees gave out, and she collapsed. But her eyes wouldn't shut, and her breath wouldn't come as she saw the tower of machina that her kinsman had built collapse in on itself, taking their hope with them.

Her will gave way, and blackness swallowed her.

Something cold brushed her cheek. _Odd, because it's summer… _The surface beneath her cheek was shifting and moving, like something breathing. She clenched her hands in an attempt to sit up, but then the pain set in. She cried out, but no one was near.

Looking up, she saw that she was on the beach- or, what was left of it. Ugly brown scars marred the surface of the sand and cliffs, extending like the wreckage of claws all the way to the sea. Veins of ocean water pulsed up and down into them quietly, as if respectfully trying to fill the destruction that Sin had wrought upon its shore.

Her eyes drifted down to herself. She was lying on her stomach, her shoulders, stomach, and arms bruised but undamaged. However, there was a heavy section of Crusader cannon lying atop her legs, crushing them into the unforgiving, rocky Djose sand. She felt like passing out again from the pain, but she knew no one was coming for her. Ciku probably thought she was dead. Keyakku might, but after awhile, he would give up. She groaned in pain and tried to pull her legs out. No good- it was too heavy.

Bodies lay strewn in various attitudes of death across the beach- Al Bhed and Crusader alike. She felt like crying, but she knew it would be childish. Everyone had told them this would happen.

"But for the chance to beat Sin," she mumbled to herself, laying her face in the sand. "To save Yunie… and the other summoners…"

It was worth it, wasn't it? Even if they just hurt it?

The eyes of the dead around her made her wonder.

She saw a young man lying spread-eagle on the beach near the water, his blonde hair spattered with blood- probably his own. He looked like Tidus, the man from Zanarkand, but it couldn't have been. He was dead on the bottom of the ocean somewhere. And yet… a feeling made her wonder. She heard shouting from the top of the cliff, but she couldn't see from where she was.

The sound of the ocean striking the beach led her into a sort of bittersweet peace. If she died now, she wouldn't have to worry about kidnapping summoners or rescuing Yunie from her pilgrimage. But she would miss Keyakku and Ciku. She would miss watching the stars move on the beach of Bikanel. She would never see Auron again.

It didn't seem to matter that much right now. She laid her face in the sand, trying to keep her mind off of the pain. She thought suddenly of the day that Cid had taken her to Besaid with him, when they went to meet Yuna. It had been bright and sunny, as it always was in the south. She had been eight- a year older than her cousin. She remembered Yuna, in a bright yellow sundress, running up to meet them, two boys with red hair and a girl with black trailing behind. Wakka, Chappu, and Lulu, she remembered- Yuna's friends from the island.

She and Yuna had had fun while her father had talked to the temple priests for hours. They went swimming, walked on the beach, and even snuck aboard a ship before it sailed. She missed Yuna- she had only seen her from afar, spying, since then. Ever since Yuna had decided to become a summoner, Cid had been angry, looking for ways to get her to change her mind. She never understood why Yuna wanted to die so much for people she didn't even know.

And now… her own people lay dead on a beach far from home, having fought and died with people they had never spoken to. She thought she understood why, but now that it was over, it seemed pointless.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps in the sand near her. Heavy, male footsteps. Afraid that it might be a Yevonite seeking a little revenge on the Al Bhed, she cast around for something to use as a weapon, but there was nothing within reach. She grabbed a handful of sand, ready to throw it into any assailant's face. But when he drew near, he spoke, and she dropped it immediately.

"Rikku," said Auron, standing above her. "What are you doing here?"

She didn't answer, and her angle made it impossible for her to look at his face, so she just touched his boot and said, "Help me. Please."

He grunted in affirmation, and moved toward the piece of machinery. "This will hurt," he said flatly, placing one warm hand on her leg and the other on the cannon. She nodded, grasping at the sand for something to take out the pain on.

Scalding, stabbing pain fired from her legs into her brain as he rolled the object off and the capillaries began to fill with blood again. She cried out in pain, trying to bite down on her lip. Her eyes quivered, even shut, and she help back tears of anguish. But suddenly, with a final shove, the offending weight was gone from her leg, and she relaxed into the sand with a sigh. "Thank you," she breathed, barely audible. She hadn't realized how painful it was until it was gone.

"You're welcome." His hand remained on the back of her leg, resting above her knee. If she had been in less pain, she would have felt a rush of excitement. "What are you doing here?" He asked in a less coarse tone, aware of her suffering.

"I… I wanted to be part of it," she admitted, raising her head out of the sand to look at him for the first time. He looked much the same as the last time she'd seen him, but his hair was ruffled and blood dirtied his face. _He was one in that summoner party_. It occurred to her that the reason she'd recognized him on the cliff was because of the way he had been standing- it was distinct.

"They failed." He was abrupt. "The heretics have died, while the faithful live on. Convenient to Yevon."

"But they were just trying to do what the summoners are doing with aeons. To defeat Sin," she said, trying to sit up. Auron slid his hand off of her leg and onto the sand. He was kneeling, but she could see from the way that he held his leg that he was hurt. And the look in his eyes told her that he wasn't as objective as his voice sounded. There was a look of wounded hope and sympathy in them. "Why shouldn't they be allowed to try?"

Auron didn't reply. He simply looked at her. She felt somehow that he was invading her thoughts. Confused, she looked away and asked, "Why are you here?"

"Fulfilling two promises." He looked down at the sand.

"Two now?" She looked at him again. "Can't you just tell me what you're really doing?"

"I'm protecting two people." He looked at her again, his hand resting on his knee. "Yuna and Tidus."

"Yunie?" Her head spun, and she put her hands on the sand to brace herself. "And the man from Zanarkand?"

"You've met him, then." He chuckled. "I thought you might have. He seems to be pretty charismatic."

"Yeah, we rescued him from Baaj," she said shortly, her focus on the first person. "You're guarding Yuna? On her pilgrimage?"  
"Yes. As a promise to Braska."

"Right." She said, her eyes drifting back up to his, then off toward the ocean. You saw what happened?"

"Sin." His answer was everything and nothing in one word. Sin, the destroyer of cities and taker of lives. Sin, the one thing that everyone hated and yet no one could truly destroy. Sin, the center of history and misery.

"Those people…" She tried to stand, but the pain in her legs wouldn't let her, and she sank back down into the sand. "What happened to them?"

"They're dead. Their bodies may not be recognizable, but they're all here somewhere."

"Is Yuna… okay?"

"Yes. She's performing a sending on the far side of the beach. I came here to look for Tidus."

"I hope you find him," she said. Now that she knew Auron was guarding Yuna, she felt even worse about what she had to do to protect her. To steal her from the most mysteriously interesting man she'd ever met- that was an insult if she'd ever suffered one.

She tried to stand again, to go and find Ciku before he left her here with all these dead people. But her wounds were too painful, and when she tried again, she collapsed into the wet sand. A sigh of frustration escaped her lips. She'd always been able to do everything herself, and now she couldn't even stand.

Suddenly, she was off the ground. Auron's strong arms braced under her knees and back, holding her up. She didn't know where he was taking her, but it didn't even matter. Now that she was moving, she saw that the destruction was greater than she had imagined. She saw faces that, only hours before, had been alive with energy and gusto, ready to fight Sin and reclaim Spira. They hadn't stood a chance.

"I'll take you to a healer," he said. "Not Yuna. A temple acolyte."

"Thank you," she said, her heartbeat slow. Time seemed to stop around her as the ocean licked at land, the body of water more alive than the people nearby. The sky was still black, as if it could not shed its tears for a people who didn't understand what they'd done to deserve this retribution. She leaned her head into Auron's chest, feeling his strong heartbeat and calming spirit, letting her pain wear itself out on her heart.

The tears came when she saw the body of a young boy lying beside his father, his machina gun underneath him, unused. She pressed her face into Auron's chest and wept, her arms wrapped around his waist for support and comfort. The pain in her legs almost matched the pain in her heart.

Above her, invisible through her tears, Auron bowed his head into Rikku's blonde head and wept too, for the foolishness of a people who only meant well.


	4. Wonder

"Go now!" Rikku sent the message to Keyakku over the intercom, and he nodded through the water. Kicking hard, he swam to a nearby ruin in the underwater city of the Moonflow and pressed a few buttons on the bomb they had set on it. Rikku braced herself as a huge thump resounded through the water. It had worked perfectly.

The huge shoopuf walking through the water stopped as if he had hit a wall. Every shoopuf was sensitive to noise, no matter how minute. And kidnapping Yuna into the underwater maze of ruins was perfect. Rikku made her way over to the machine that they had prepared for this, slipping easily inside the control room just as Keyakku burst out of the water onto the shoopuf's back.

Seconds later, he reappeared with a terrified-looking Yuna in his arms. She was dressed in a long blue skirt with a white-wrapped top and half-sleeves- in short, she was beautiful. However, the terrified look in her eyes only increased when Keyakku pushed her, as gently as he could, into the orb atop her machine. Rikku could hear her. "Yevon, protect me. Bring Tidus or Wakka to help me."

Tidus? He was with Yuna?

Her prayer appeared to work. Seconds later, Tidus and a man with red hair came down with weapons in hand to face her. She gripped the control handles in front of her, ready to fire if they attacked. She didn't want to hurt them- she had affection for Tidus- but she would, if it would save Yunie. She pressed the depth charge button.

Tidus' lips seemed to be moving. She couldn't tell what he was saying underwater, but he looked vengeful. Suddenly, she felt the stab of fear. Unless she could fire enough charges to knock these two out, their mission would fail. The missiles fired from her machina's guns, but they dodged the projectiles and charged her. The man with the red hair threw what looked like a blitzball at her face. While trying to brush it from her eyes, she felt the sudden stab of pain near the lower half of the machine- Tidus had rammed a sword into the circuitry. She kicked at him, striking him far into the water. She heard Yuna cry out, as if she herself had been struck.

Tidus spun and kicked with the grace of a blitzball player. The other man turned to him as if to see if he was okay, then threw his ball at her again. It struck her hard, and confused her for a second. She knew then that it wasn't going to work- she should just give up now. But she couldn't before Tidus swam down on her and drove his weapon into her shoulder, shattering her control of the machine. It began to convulse, striking her inside, bruising and cutting her. She cried out and pressed the release button.

The orb holding Yuna broke, releasing her into the water. Rikku watched dimly through her watersuit's goggles as Tidus took Yuna safely into his arms and the redheaded man swam back toward the surface. Rikku's newly injured body, in combination with the wounds from Djose, assaulted her brain. She couldn't handle the pain, and her body gave up to the current as she passed out.

"Are you sure about this, Rikku?" Yuna looked into her cousin's bright green eyes as they stood a little off from Wakka and Tidus. "It's a long way still, and I wouldn't want… to inconvenience you."

"Of course I want to, Yunie!" She stuck her hip out and put one finger to her cheek. "I just want to protect you… even till the end."

"But do you have the skills?" Lulu looked through her black eyes at the small girl standing before her. "We have Guadosalam ahead, and then the Thunder Plains, filled with fiends. And beyond, it's even tougher."

"I can handle it. I'm tougher than I look." Rikku smiled at the tall girl and her skirt of belts, looking down her nose at her. Bold and stubborn, she'd had never been scared of anyone.

"If you would like to join us, I would be honored to have you… as my guardian." Yuna smiled at her, but suddenly, her gaze drifted to the side. "That is," she added, "if Sir Auron is okay with it."

Rikku's gaze flew to where Yuna was looking and saw Auron walking toward them, his bright red coat wrapped around his waist, his arms for once swinging free. For the first time, she noted the attractive definition of his muscles as he walked toward her. She ran over to him to stop him from giving her away as an Al Bhed. "Hello," she said, as if to any stranger.

"Rikku would like to be my guardian." Yuna said from the side, and Tidus nodded emphatically. He probably would have agreed with anything Yuna said, gauging from the look on his face.

"Let me see your face," said Auron in his usual tone. Rikku lifted up her face with her eyes shut. But it seemed silly, so she opened them slowly.

"As I thought." He looked deep into the curls of her pupils, telling her through his gaze something that she couldn't interpret.

"No good?" She said softly with a smile.

"It's fine." He nodded to her and looked to Yuna. "Let's go." A tall Ronso trailed up behind him, and Yuna nodded.

_That easily?_ Her legs still stiff, Rikku quickly fell behind the main body of the party. It was huge for a summoner party- no wonder they'd failed at getting Yuna. Seven people, counting herself; usually, summoner parties were no more than three or four.

She found herself walking beside Auron all of a sudden, who was obviously slowing his normal pace to match her injured one. "Thanks for not ratting me out back there," she said, quietly enough to where the main party couldn't hear.

"You're welcome. Just guard Yuna," he said, not looking down at her. "It was my promise to Braska."

"Ah." She looked down at the road, her legs feeling better already. Then she thought of something. "Hey, back there, when you looked at me… why did you say that? You knew I was Al Bhed."

He paused. "I knew Yuna knew that you were Al Bhed too. And-" He stopped himself.

"And what?" Her curiosity got the better of her, and she leaned in to give him a funny look.

"And your eyes. They're… interesting."

She knew that from Auron, this was a compliment. She lowered her head and smiled to herself shyly. They walked for awhile in silence before she asked, "What are the others' names?"

"Yuna, Tidus, Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri." He indicated with his head as he spoke each of their names. Rikku had talked to him enough to be able to decipher his ever-so-slight tones, and she could hear the affection in his voice when he said the first two names, and the respect for the last three.

"I'll probably have to ask you again sometime."

"You'll learn." His mouth tipped in a slight smile.

_Should I…?_ She looked up at him, and he looked fairly serene against the backdrop of the green woods. His presence calmed all fear, somehow; maybe it was his strength. Either way, she felt at peace around him. So, on impulse, she looped her arm through his.

He stiffened at first, as if alarmed by physical contact that he couldn't control, but gradually relaxed. As they were behind the main group, no one saw. "Thank you for letting me… be a guardian," she said softly, walking beside him. The woods were quiet- fiends were sparse today. Appropriately, too; enough fighting had been had for a lifetime between the two of them. After awhile, he replied.

"It wasn't just for Yuna."

"Wow."

Rikku breathed out as she looked over Seymour's complicated but beautiful sphere. All around her, the lights of a city a thousand years dead lit up the holographic black night. Standing on air, they raced through the crowds and machina of a world that no one remembered. This was truly a magnificent thing.

Auron stood near her, but not too near- the wonder on the others' faces would have made it odd. He had seen the city before, of course, but it was not his home, which put him somewhere emotionally between Tidus' and the others' reactions. Wonder and loss; amazement and longing. He looked at Rikku again.

Her blonde hair trailed down to frame her face, her tan desert skin glowing in the dead city's lights. She stood a half foot shorter than he, but the graceful way she moved made her look like a tall, elegant dancer. It occurred to him that she was beautiful, but somehow, the fact felt like it didn't affect him. He'd seen the affection with which she treated Tidus- a far more appropriate connection, and in good time, considering the boy's misplaced crush on Yuna.

The summoner turned in wonder, her two different-colored irises flashing in amazement at the complexity of the sphere as they rushed into Yunalesca's- the first High Summoner and Yuna's namesake- room. Seymour stood beside her, in all of his half-human, half-guado mystery. Auron didn't dislike him, but didn't trust him, either.

The sound here seemed muted. As he stood next to Rikku, he could hear her breath come slowly as she watched Yunalesca greet her husband, the great Lord Zaon, in silent kissing and caressing. The scene was one that had been told throughout history as the great strength, the wonderful determination that defeated Sin. He looked down at Rikku, and smiled when he saw the red tint in her cheeks. Embarassment, from a woman her age? Somehow, deep inside, it was attractively… cute? He banished the thought.

Suddenly, before their eyes, the scene dissolved into a watery mist, every glowing facet of the room in its own individual drop of sphere, and then it vanished in a blinding flash. They stood again in the main hall of the Guado palace, with Seymour standing close- _too close; what is he doing?-_ to Yuna. Yuna clamped a hand to her mouth, lowered her head, and walked quickly to a table and downed a cup of water, breathing heavily. Worried, he gathered around her with the other guardians in a cluster.

"Your face is beet red!" Rikku teased her cousin in good-natured worry, bending down to look into the lady summoner's face. Tidus asked in hesitant worry, "You okay?"

Yuna drew a deep, shuddering breath. "He… he asked me to marry him."

_(Thank you all so much for reading so far- I appreciate your reviews and subscriptions. Make sure you read the next chapter- it's the first climax of the story. __ )_


	5. Separate

"Be back later," Tidus said as he walked up the ethereal stairs of the Farplane. Pyreflies swirled in helixes and arcs to the left and right of the path that led upward to the blue barrier. Rikku waved at him fondly and sat down on the wall, her bare legs dangling down into the misty void. Strangely, she didn't feel afraid. The smoke from below her felt warm, somehow. Like it wasn't a cold place. Like there was something below.

However, she was acutely aware of Auron behind her. Somehow, she knew that he wouldn't go up. She wouldn't have minded seeing her mother again on the Farplane, but she wanted to stay with him. They didn't get much time alone together, and she just liked to be near him. She pulled at the fringe of her shorts, quiet, enjoying the calm silence of the world of the departed.

"Don't fall," he said suddenly. She looked back over her shoulder at him, sitting hunched on the stairs, his red coat falling around his knees like crimson wings. His long hair, pulled into its usual ponytail, hung over his left shoulder, resting against his black chestplate. Behind his glasses, she could see his eyes looking her way.

"What's down there?" She wondered aloud, looking back down at the mysterious smoky emptiness.

"The world of the dead. No one really knows." He stood and walked over beside her, looking calmly down into the void. "It could be heaven. It could be emptiness. It could be anything."

"You know something, don't you?" She looked playfully up at him. "Spill. What do you know?"

"That'll be part of your story. You'll find out eventually." His mouth tipped in a slight smile. "Don't depend on others for things you can discover yourself."

"That's just mean." She stood, looking up at him. "Why do you always have to be so mysterious?"

"That's my secret."

"That's exactly what I mean!" She stuck her bottom lip out. Looking up at him, something occurred to her. "Where did that scar on your eye come from?"

"A fight. A long time ago." He blinked slowly.

"That's not an answer either." Slowly, she reached up and took off his glasses. From the amount of time he spent looking over them at people in judgement, she knew he didn't need them. He stiffened, twitching his head back, but remaining still. "Let me see." She reached up, hesitantly, with a gentle hand, and touched his closed eye, tracing the scar from his forehead to his cheekbone. "It's deep…"

He didn't speak, but breathed deep.

"Wow." She let her hand trail down to rest on his cheek. "Did it hurt?"

"Yes," he said slowly. "More than I could bear."

"I'm sorry," she said, apologizing for nothing. She felt his pain. It seemed to emanate from him. This was the Auron that no one ever saw- the Auron that she wanted to know.

He didn't reply. But as she looked up into his eyes again, her hand still against his cheek, she wanted to comfort him. She wanted something that she couldn't describe. So, standing on her tiptoes and pressed her lips, ever so softly, against his.

He didn't move. He didn't even stiffen, like he usually did with physical contact. He just stood there for the three seconds that it took, and then looked down at her with a gaze that communicated confusion. Auron was never confused. This was new to him.

After a short pause, red rushed into Rikku's face. "I'm sorry," she said, lowering her hand back to her side. "I just …"

"No," he said, interrupting her. He inclined his head and silently pressed his lips against her temple, breathing in the scent of her hair. The quiet hum of the pyreflies around them made it a serene atmosphere, and they stood close together for some time. On the Farplane, time was said to stop; between the two guardians, time slowed.

"Auron…" Rikku said softly. He pulled away and looked down at her through his one golden-brown eye. "What… does this mean?"

He said nothing, but looked thoughtful. _He looks strange without his glasses. More… human._ "Yuna's journey should be first," he said finally. "Everything else comes after that."

"So you and I…"

"Can't." He drew back. "I'm sorry."

"So, all this… it's just void?" Frustration overflowed in Rikku's heart, and she clenched her fists and looked at the dusty ground. "After all that we've been through?"

"It's not in the story."

Nothing came to her mind but anger and indignation. After all this… after a kiss, after holding her, after rescuing her… nothing? Nothing at all? He just sat there on the steps, unchanged, his red coat fluttering around him. She turned her back to him, hot tears escaping her eyes. She didn't know what to answer.

"Hey guys," Tidus said, coming down the steps. She forced herself to stop the crying and face him with her usual, pasted smile.

Rikku leaned on her elbows against a webbed wall in Guadosalam, her mind in turmoil. Yuna had gone down to Seymour's palace to give her answer to the stiff, blue-haired, vascular maester. Now, the six of the guardians waited in various parts of Guadosalam. While Tidus ran around in circles, buying new supplies and equipment, talking to random Guado, the rest of them stood and waited. But her thoughts weren't on the strange atmosphere of the Guado city.

Her mind first lingered on the day that Sin destroyed their first Home. It had been on an island south of Bikanel, beautiful and lush, full of peaceful valleys and stands of trees. She had been young when it was destroyed, but she remembered being happy. But one thing she did remember clearly was the day that Sin came.

The clouds were heavy in the sky that day. She and Ciku had been out under the stands of trees near Home, playing with their father. Suddenly, a strong wind blasted the trees and the grass under their feet. Cid yelled something into the air, picked her up, and grabbed Ciku by the hand as he ran. The wind blew too hard for her to hear anything, but she could feel the fast beating of her own heart. Then, Cid put her down and pressed her and Ciku beneath him, lying down beneath some kind of shelter. She heard a horrendous cracking and bursting, like… a bomb exploding.

Suddenly, she felt water underneath her and the sand moving. Cid screamed something, and she heard Ciku sobbing about wanting to go Home and Mommy. Cid grabbed them and ran. She blacked out and didn't remember anything.

When she woke, she, Cid, and Ciku were in a boat. Ciku was on the floor, crying, and she was in Cid's lap. When she looked up, she could see tears dripping from Cid's face. She didn't realize until later that they'd lost everything- Home, the island, her mother.

She shifted her position, clasping her hands together. Below her, Guado mixed and chatted calmly, their faces holding a similar expression. Guadosalam seemed so peaceful. She almost wanted to stay in a place like this forever. But she knew, with Yuna, she'd never be able to stop. Not until Yuna was safe, with or without her consent.

"Hey, Rikku." Tidus drew up beside her, her gloved hands shoved into his mesh blitzball-friendly pockets. She smiled at him, still leaned on the wall. "What's up?"

She thought quickly for an excuse. Fortunately, the thought that had been frightening her for hours came from the back of her mind to the front. "We have to cross the Thunder Plains next, you know…"

"Yeah?" He nodded, not understanding. "What's so bad about that?"

She didn't answer. She didn't want to disclose what scared her so much about thunder… not yet, anyway.

"Well, you'll be okay," said Tidus, walking away down the stairs to her left. She was alone again, but now with the thought and fear of the Thunder Plains ahead. Her mind was consumed with the terror of flashing light, devastating the ground from the sky.

"Hey, Rikku! Seymour's in Macalania! We have to go!" Tidus called from below, interrupting her frightened reverie.

"_Lord_ Seymour." Rikku could hear Shelinda's irritating voice next to him.

She reached out unconsciously onto the railing for a hand to hold to, but of course, there was nothing there. She forced a cheerful smile, hoping to feel it eventually, and followed him down to the level below.


	6. Thunder

It was dark.

Rikku shrieked as yet _another_ lightning bolt struck the ground near her, and Lulu gave her an exasperated look. "Would you stop that? It's the Thunder Plains."

"I'm scared of lightning!"

"You've mentioned that. Not that you need to." Lulu picked up her pace and caught up with Wakka, who walked ahead with the blue of his blitzball/weapon underarm. With a smile, he greeted her- they obviously liked one another. Far too cheerful for Rikku, in her current mood. The next time a bolt of lighting struck, she simply hugged herself tighter and lowered her head to face the rock-hard ground, despite the nearly constant rainfall.

"You okay, Rikku?" Tidus drew up beside her, and Rikku didn't even try to give him the visage of a smile.

"No-o," she said, her voice quivering. "I wanna go home." She bit her lip hard as thunder sounded off to her right, behind the shadow of a lightning tower. Auron walked briskly up ahead, and she gave his back a sour look, both jealous at his bravery and angry at his rejection of her hopes.

"What's wrong?" Tidus tilted his head, his scruffy blond hair tossing around his cheeks. He was handsome. And he obviously cared about her- more than Auron, anyway. She recalled the conversation when they first emerged from Guadosalam into these accursed plains.

Oh no,_ she had said, quivering under the shadow of the cave's mouth._ We're here._ Lighting had struck, and she had screamed, burying her head in her bare shoulder. She'd been hoping that Auron's apparent animosity toward her would have caved when he saw her fear, but he was as stony as he had been when he sat away from her on the stairs of the Farplane. Hoping to lighten the mood, she said, _I think I forgot something in Guadosalam.

Nice knowing you. _Auron had barely looked at her as he began walking into the endless storm before her. Indignant at his careless treatment of her, especially after their exchange on the stairs of the Farplane, she determined to cross without fear. However, as soon as she stepped onto the unforgiving ground- so unfairly called a plain- her fear nearly controlled her. Her naturally light-hearted nature became almost giddy with fear. She could barely stand it as she followed the red coat of the man she had hoped in across a forsaken path that wove between twisty towers._

"I'm scared of lightning," she said briefly, determining anew to be brave, like Yuna needed her to be. Speaking of Yuna… "Hasn't Yuna been awfully quiet since we left Guadosalam?" She changed the subject, peering childishly over at her cousin, who walked slowly but purposefully beside the huge shape of Kimahri, her blue skirt swinging freely around her thin legs.

"Yeah, she has," Tidus mused almost to himself, touching his chin as if stroking an invisible beard. "I wonder what's going on?"

"Do you think something happened in Seymour's place?" Releasing her deathgrip on her sides, she took on a conspiratorial look. In Tidus, she had found a kindred spirit of rebellion against this insane pilgrimage… she thought. One minute, she thought he knew everything there was to know- then, in the next, she thought him totally ignorant.

"I dunno. Maybe we should just ask her."

"I-" Lighting struck again, cutting her off. She stopped dead in her tracks, and Tidus moved ahead of her, still musing, but Rikku's min stopped working. Vaguely, she heard Tidus say they were almost out.

"Eh heh heh heh," she heard herself saying.

"Hm?" The rest of Yuna's contingent turned around to face her.

"Eh heh heh heh…"

"You okay?" Wakka sent a funny look her way, but he seemed a long way off in her spinning vision.

"Eh heh heh… you're giving me the creeps!" Tidus sent her a half-angry, half-worried look.

Another bolt of lighting struck, and she was on the ground. Holding still for a second, she realized no one was coming for her, so she crawled in spurts toward them. She heard gasps and groans from various people in the group (though none from Auron, she noted). When she dared to peer up, she saw the bright yellow of Tidus' shoe, and grabbed a tight hold of his leg.

"I wanna go home! I hate lighting! I hate thunder!" She looked up into Tidus' face in a desperate plea. "Let's rest over there. Please…?" She pointed in the general direction of a dark building. Peering through the rain, she could just make out the sign that read, in both Al Bhed and normal speech, "Travel Agency."

"This storm never stops. Better to cross quickly." Auron turned around and kept walking, spurring her stubbornness. How could he be so heartless? Did he think she was faking it?

"I know, but… just for a little while?" The rest of the party turned and kept going with him, but Tidus stayed beside her as she stood, a tiny figure in the grayish-blue landscape. He looked at her and shrugged, but still not moving.

"I'm scared of lightning!" She begged, desperate now, shuffling toward the door. She felt like crying, but she knew it would only make her seem more pathetic.

"Come on, guys," Tidus said suddenly, showing some support. "It couldn't hurt to stock up on supplies."

Yuna, who'd been slowing down, and Lulu, who had been waiting for Yuna, stopped and began to come back. Wakka groaned and came to follow Lulu, and the other two came grudgingly later. They all stepped inside, into the light and warmth.

Rikku sat on the floor of the Travel Agency's small lobby, her back against the bookcase, trying not to listen to the sky's anger outside. Yuna had quickly retired to a room, and Tidus had been pacing around, worried about her ever since. Auron stood on the far side of the room, crossly searching through the books for something interesting to him. Not surprisingly, he hadn't found anything.

The other guardians stood around quietly, but for some reason, Lulu stood close to her. Rikku had been watching and listening to her all through Guadosalam, admiring her maturity and wisdom. She could see a happiness behind her gloom-and-doom black looks, braids, and black magic. Someday, she wanted to be just like Lulu.

"Are you that scared?" Tidus suddenly asked her, taking pause in his pacing to speak to her. She appreciated his care for her.

"When I was little, a fiend attacked me while I was swimming at the beach. My brother tried to beat it back with a spell." Horrible memories came back to her, and she shuddered as another boom of thunder echoed around the small building. "But he missed and hit me instead! It was a Thunder spell- bzzzt!" She saw Tidus' laugh at her sound effect. "I've been scared of lighting ever since."

"But… it can be effectve." Lulu made a sudden comment, facing the younger girl with her interminable eyes. "Magic is effective against marine fiends."

Rikku quickly nodded in agreement. She probably would have agreed if Lulu said that it wasn't raining outside. "My brother said that too."

"You should learn some spells, too."

Rikku's young heart leaped when Lulu took notice of her. She grinned broadly and nodded. "Will you teach some to me?" Lulu was about to answer when another thunderbolt came, rattling Rikku and making her shrink into a cowering little girl again, hurt on the Bikanel beach.

"Maybe later," Lulu said, with an ever-so-slight smile.

"I'd like to learn," she said, biting her lip with embarrassment. She wanted to impress Lulu, but had totally failed so far to appear as anything but what she was- a young, immature girl with little experience of normal Spira's life.

"Watch the next time we run into a fiend here. Sometimes, the fiends cast magic too."

"Okay," she said, suddenly distracted as Tidus slipped into the back where Yuna was. She felt like she was starting to like Tidus, even though he obviously had feelings for Yuna, and didn't want him to get hurt. Especially if Yuna said yes to Seymour. She stuck out her tongue at the thought of the maester's venous forehead.

Suddenly, she heard chuckling, and snapped back to attention to find Lulu and Wakka quietly laughing at her expression.

"It's not stopping, is it?" Rikku stood near the door of the Travel Agency, which stood open to the cruel elements. Yuna was awake now, and they had to go. But her fear anchored her feet to the floor.

"Don't tell me you were hoping it would." Auron moved past her, his brawny shoulder brushing hers in the narrow doorway. She shied away from the flash as a bolt struck the ground near the agency, causing the light to fill the scene outside. She heard Auron's exasperation in his sigh.

"_Fine._ Stay here." Callously, Auron moved past her and into the rain and dark outside. She watched the rain course down off of his olive skin, and she suddenly felt like she needed to earn his good opinion. Not for his sake, but out of spite, to prove she wasn't as childish as he thought she was.

"All right, already." She straightened, staring hard after him, fear be condemned. Enough was enough. She was furious at Auron's constant rebuking and apparent carelessness. She'd show him. She'd prove it to him. "But… you don't have to say it like that, y'know! You could be more comforting or something!" All her confusion and rage launched out at him. "You know, try to cheer me up or something? Hey, are you listening?" Another bolt of lightning struck, sending the shadow of the man before her flying into the doorway, stretching nearly to her feet. After cringing, she realized how pathetic her fear was. "I'm not scared…" She bit her lip, taking one step in blind, childish stubbornness. "I'm not scared, you hear?" Bursting through the door, she pushed past him, her brain laced with adrenaline, walking off into the storm.

But as she brushed past him, she could have sworn she heard him chuckle.


	7. Conversation

"And so I grabbed the sphere and ran!" Rikku related, doubled over laughing as Yuna giggled and Tidus guffawed. Laughter seemed ill-placed at a time like this- Yuna about to marry Seymour, on her way to go and die for an ungrateful Spira- but it was the only way to keep from despair. They had to laugh. There was no other way.

The woods sparkled strangely around them, the very trees alight with the mystic spirit of the fayth. It was said that the land of Macalania- the forest, the lake- revolved around the fayth and her song, but one really couldn't understand what it was like until walking through the woods, hearing the sky and air sing around. Fiends inhabited these woods, but even then, they seemed calmer, somehow. No less aggressive, but more… resolute, somehow. At peace with themselves.

But Rikku knew the woods wouldn't last forever. They'd reach the end, and Yuna would marry that creeper Seymour. And Auron was going to let her.

She looked back at him now. She couldn't help but notice how the woods seemed to make him stand out more, with their melancholy leafy backdrop and bluish tree trunk columns surrounding the path they walked on. His face was set in its usual grimace, and she couldn't see any vestiges of real emotion hidden behind the dark glasses and the leather collar. _And why should he?_ She thought in fuming frustration. _I thought he might care about Yunie, but I guess not. He only cares about beating Sin again._

In fact, she'd been glad when they'd run across Barthello, a guardian for a summoner that the rest of the party had met in Kilika. He'd been worried because she'd been kidnapped (by the Al Bhed, of course, but the rest of them didn't know that), and Auron had told him forcefully to calm down, but it was obvious that none of them had known who was behind the kidnappings. It gave Rikku a sort of sick enjoyment. Of course, she wished that they didn't have to do this- that the summoners would give up and look for another, less doomed way to defeat Sin, but as it was, she was fine with it.

Now, looking at Auron, she felt a terrible sort of childish triumph.

He glanced up at her, and she whipped her head back around to where Tidus was flirting heavily with Yuna. She could tell at this point that they were heavily interested in each other, which was back news for either one. Yuna was on a mission to die- which she was fairly sure, by this point, that Tidus had no idea of. He was constantly saying things like, "After we beat Sin, we have to…"

It hurt her a little. And she could tell that it hurt Yuna.

"Yunie," she said, interrupting Tidus as he went off about something that made no sense. "What kind of flowers do you think you'll wear at your wedding?"

"Oh," Yuna said, putting a hand to her mouth in thought. "I… hadn't thought about it."

"Well, you can't let Yevon pick for you. They have terrible taste in colors." Rikku teased, plucking at Yuna's hair. "Well, if Seymour doesn't care, I call getting to help."

Wakka pulled up next to them. "Wait, Yuna's flowers for her wedding? Jeez, I didn't think about that. It's kinda weird still, ya?" He scratched his head, ruffling his flame jet of hair.

"Seymour probably won't care, will he? Or wait, is there some kind of Yevon standard?" Tidus leaned over, looking into Yuna's face. "I… still think this is all too weird. Getting married out of the blue?"

"I… suppose." Yuna seemed overwhelmed. Kimahri loomed up behind her, his furry arm ready to protect her from any offending fiend.

"Yeah! I mean, can't Seymour wait until after we've beaten Sin?" Tidus' ill-spoken comment was ignored.

Lulu spoke up. "I suppose if a summoner has poor taste in flowers, Yevon wants to cover it up." Everyone gave her odd looks until they realized she was teasing- an odd occasion for the dark magician.

"Right! If Yuna picks ugly flowers, that'll embarrass Yevon!" Rikku teased her cousin until the younger girl turned red. "Right, Auron?" She turned around, dropping back by the trailing guardian.

He replied slowly, not without a smile, "I suppose Seymour will let Lady Yuna choose whatever she wants."

_Thank you, Auron,_ Rikku thought gratefully. It would have killed the mood if Auron had chosen to be his usual serious self. The guardians continued walking up the tree branches, but in a lighter, more hearty mood. Tidus touched Yuna's arm gently, and Yuna looked at him affectionately. Worried, Rikku dropped casually back to walk beside Auron.

"I think Tidus has a crush on Yuna," she said softly to the older guardian, out of the others' hearing range.

"I know." He kept walking, not looking down at her.

"What do we do?" She turned her gaze up to his face, stolid, a foot above her own. "When we get to Zanarkand, she'll… she'll be…"

"Yuna knows her responsibility."

Rikku sighed and clenched her hands into fists. There was really no way around this. She had to do something.

Suddenly, she felt warm skin against hers. Auron's forearm was resting against her upper arm, his fingers brushing her skin. "And you know yours," he said, his eyes looking firmly down into hers, "as Yuna's guardian."

"Rikku," Auron said, turning toward her from across the ice of Lake Macalania. "Does this work?"

"Yes!" She raced across the ice and skidded to a stop next to the overturned glider. In truth, she really couldn't care less that Wakka was racist against her. It had hurt a little that he'd trusted her until he found out that her blood ran in Al Bhed and decided to walk away, simply because he hated her family. Hated her home. Hated her.

"We're not going to use that, are we?" She heard Wakka's disgusted, disdainful voice coming from behind her. His brown eyes bored into her spine, trying to destroy her with only a gaze. It was as if he felt he could destroy the entire despised Al Bhed race by simply destroying her.

"Do you have a better way?" Tidus defended her. She lost herself in the circuits and switches, trying to prove herself. If she was a failure as a being, maybe she could be useful as a resource. Finally, she felt the spark of activation.

"It's ready to go!" She jumped back up, her usual bouncy self. She felt the skin of her legs prickling in the cold, finally sensing the bitterly cold air. Tidus sent her a confident grin as he headed for one. "Are you sure you know how to work this thing?"

"Better than Kimahri does," he said ironically as the Ronso powerfully flipped one and sent it running toward the temple with little or no effort. In frustration, Wakka stormed off toward the temple on foot, muttering rebelliously about false faith to Yevon. She shook her head as his bright read head receded into the snowy distance.

Tidus and Lulu hopped aboard one of the lifts, which left Auron and herself to the other. With slight hesitation, she swung one leg over the back and wrapped her arms around Auron's warm form. She realized dimly as Auron started the lift and it jolted awkwardly off that this was the closest they'd ever really been. She joined her hands palms-down over his waist, touching his warm stomach in search of comfort. Wakka's hurtful words had torn a deeper heartstring than she cared to admit.

"Auron?" She looked over his powerful shoulder, talking loud enough to be heard over the rumbling engine.

"Yes?" His low tone was barely discernable from the engine's roar.

"I know that people hate the Al Bhed because we use machina… but that can't be the only reason, can it?" The look of betrayal in Wakka's usually warm eyes was now coming back to haunt her. "I mean.. there must be another reason."

"The Al Bhed have never been the friends of Yevon." She could feel him breathing beneath her fingertips, and she savored the feeling of closeness and life. "Machina use was just the excuse that Yevon used to brand them official enemies."

"But there's no reason for Wa- any Yevonite to hate us… is there?" She bit off the word Wakka at the stem, not wanting to be petty like that. She felt childish- why should one more Yevonite hating her be anything special? Was it just because they'd _been_ friends? Or was it like the straw that broke the camel's back?

He rumbled in something that she interpreted as a chuckle. "Rikku, you don't need to constantly look for everyone to like you." He spoke naturally in her native tongue- she had almost forgotten that he spoke it. "Be who you are. Don't try to be someone else to please everyone."

"He-ey," she said, trying to dismiss the dejected tone from her voice. "Did you write that? Or did you steal it from someone?"

"Does it matter?" He shifted, pulling his arms in, letting his elbows rest against her arms, folding her in after a fashion. He fell silent, and they rode peacefully together toward the ice temple for a few moments before she spoke again.

"Auron?"

"What?"

"Did you… did you mean what you said, outside the Farplane?" She had to know.

"Yes."

"Do you… really want me to not act that way?"

He didn't answer for a moment. If she could have seen his face, it would have made no difference; the debate was in his convoluted mind. She couldn't see the turmoil that tumbled behind his snow-speckled eyes. Unaware that he was unsent, she couldn't have imagined at that point the conflict inside him- to stay and try to live a half life, or to go and leave behind the world for something that might or might not be better. Finally, he spoke. "No."

"…I don't believe you." She laced her arms tighter around his waist. "I know this isn't exactly the best place, but I wanna know. We're guardians. But we're humans, too- and I want to know you. Okay?"

He didn't answer.

"You're always talking about stories," she said petulantly, aware that she was probably irritating him. "Well, the thing I like most about stories is that I can always change the ending if I don't like it. And I don't like this, so I'm changing my story to where I can do what I want." She rested her cheek against his back. "Okay, so… now you know."

"Rikku," he said with an Al Bhed inflection. "I am…"

"Don't tell me anymore about what I can't do," she said, shaking her head in stubborn defiance. "Auron, I want what I want. And even if… even if you don't… even if Yuna's journey comes first… just know." She stopped there, determined to not say anymore.

After a moment of silence, Auron replied softly. "Thank you, Rikku."

Breaking her vow, she whispered in reply, "You're welcome."

_You need me as much as I need you._


	8. Recovery

Everything crashed.

"Ugh," Rikku moaned, her cheek pressed deep into slushy water. Everything around her was cold, encasing her arms and legs like a tight outfit. Her pain-laced stomach and chest reminded her dimly of the events before their plunge.

_White whirled around me, with only the pale blue sky as a landmark. A tall fiend with red eyes and blue feet came out to meet us with the Guado. Auron stepped in front of me. With its last breath, it broke a huge hole in the ice, and we couldn't get away from the cracking surface of the lake. It all crashed beneath our feet, and I lost my grip on Auron. Everything is cold._

_ We killed Seymour._

Her mind still couldn't process this last fact.

By now, she was sure that none of their minds had actually been thinking when they had seen Seymour, heard his vicious words, and felt his spells working their way beneath their skin, trying to strangle the heart. Rikku knew that she hadn't woken up from blind action before Seymour lay dead at their feet. Tidus seemed victorious; Lulu and Wakka were both in shock, and Kimahri was completely neutral.

Auron, however, seemed conflicted. Just like Yuna.

She searched for purchase on the icy lake floor with her gloved palms, found a solid place, and forced herself shakily upright. They had luckily landed in a patch of ruins on a shelf of ice under the initial lake surface- Macalania must be colder than they thought- and were now safe from the hunting Guado. The spiraling ruins of towers rose around her, stretching back up toward the broken ice surface.

She craned her neck upwards, her mouth wide open. "Wooooow," she goggled. "That's a long way up." They fell that far? How had they survived?

Far off in the distance, she heard the Hymn of the Fayth. Peaceful and unchanging, as the fayth had been singing for nearly a thousand years. Rikku crouched down and inspected her cold legs for injury. So far, so good- her skin was mostly intact.

On her peripheral vision, she saw the telltale red coat. Rotating her head, she saw Auron leaning against a tower, seemingly unshaken. Perfunctorily, she asked him, "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Are you?" He rolled his eyes up toward her. Behind the glasses, she saw real emotion. So, the fall had rattled him; this was just his way of dealing with it.

"I'm okay. I'm a little sore, but I can deal with it." She grinned as always, folding her hands behind her back. "Where's Yunie?"  
"There." He pointed abruptly toward a shadowy ruin with a fallen wall. Through the dim light, Rikku could just make out the white blouse and night sky-blue skirt of the young summoner. With a smile and toss of her blonde bangs, she bounded over toward her fallen cousin with her usual excitement and youthful energy.

"Yuna sleeping," Kimahri growled softly as she approached, leaning over and peering into her cousin's face. She looked up into the impassive face of the blue-furred tower, his arms crossed across his chest.

"Is she okay?" She gently touched the soft skin of Yuna's hand, her delicate skin cool but still alive. Yuna looked paler than usual, the shock of Yevon's sudden betrayal hard on her. She brushed Yuna's soft brown hair away from her cheek, smiling a little. "She still looks tired."

"Yuna!" Tidus sloshed up beside her, his haphazard clothing dripping slush, betraying how fast he had run here from waking. _He really does love her…_ Rikku shifted to her right a little, allowing the young man to get closer to the summoner he guarded so faithfully. "Is she okay?"

"I think so," Rikku said. "That was kind of a long fall. Do you know where we are?"

"Lulu said we're beneath the lake ice. Look, there's the temple thingy." He waved toward the column of the temple, his bright blue eyes never leaving Yuna's face. Rikku watched him, a mischievous smile creeping over her face.

"Look! A fiend!" She barked in Al Bhed. Tidus' head whirled, and he whipped out his sword, leaning over Yuna. In one smooth movement, she kicked his ankles out from underneath him, making him slip and fall in the slushy lake bottom.

"Yowch! What was that for?" He jumped back up, his eyebrows knitted as he swiped at her.

"Jeez," she laughed, dodging. "We're still alive- lighten up!" Evading again, she flicked his nose playfully. "Yunie's gonna be fine."

Tidus sighed at her and turned back to Yuna. Seeing that she couldn't lighten the mood without being unkind, she turned away and walked back toward the edge of the ruins where Auron stood alone. She passed Wakka, who stood in some sort of coma, staring at the temple and praying fervently. However, even with the luck of their survival, the shock would have him snapping at her even worse than he was before. Avoiding him, she snuck at admiring look at Lulu's mature stance, attitude, and figure before pulling up beside the legendary guardian.

"How is Yuna?" He kept looking straight out across the vast plains of the sub-ice lake, but concern tingeing his voice.

"She's kinda out." She leaned against the wall next to him, her arm lightly resting against his side. "But Tidus is watching her, and Kimahri is… y'know, _whoo."_ She cupped her hands in circles around her eyes like binoculars, and Auron chuckled.

"What're we going to do?" She looked up at him after a short silence. "How are we going to get out of here?" _And the temples? And Yevon? And Zanarkand? And Yunie…_

"We'll take care of each other." He turned his head and looked down at her tenderly. Suddenly, she felt the warmth of hand touching her palm. "And we'll all take care of Yuna."

And all of a sudden, it was bright. Rikku's eyes flickered open once again.

"Owchie…"

Digging her fingers into the surface beneath her- _sand?_- she pulled herself upright again. The sun beat heavily on the back of her neck, her boots steeped to the ankles in loose grains of sand. The wind blew mercilessly, devoid of water, into her sleepy face.

"It couldn't be?" And yet it was. Every dune, every inch of the sky, whispered _home_ into her ears. Yet how?

_What about Yuna? Auron? Tidus, Lulu, Wakka, Kimahri?_

She turned into the sun. Sin must have dropped them here- she vaguely remembered seeing its death-riddled form floating in the emptiness of the lake. Auron's warm presence next to her had disappeared, pulled suddenly away, and she floated in emptiness. Lights, roads, and a war-beaten atmosphere had swallowed her, and must have dropped her here. But three words that had somehow echoed through the darkness puzzled and haunted her.

"_You're Sin now._"

Letting the thoughts float off into the sky from whence they came, she walked across a dune. Certain now that this was Bikanel, she searched for a landmark from which to find Home. But the others…

Their faces drifted through her mind; she couldn't just leave them in the desert to find their own way. Even after Wakka's cruel words, she had to find Yuna. It was her responsibility. And Auron; she had to find him. For her own sake as much as his.

"Heeeeeeeeeey!" She cried out in Al Bhed, her thin voice echoing across the wind-blown sands. No answer came. She walked.

Miles drifted away beneath her feet as she reacquainted herself with the sliding, loose terrain. Soon, she became as usual- just before she had left the island several weeks before. A terrible thought occurred to her- what would happen at Home when she arrived with Yevonites and a summoner, as a guardian?

But her questions drifted away to join her thoughts in the air when her happy eyes fell on a small group coming through the sand. Joyous, she raced down to meet them. Tidus gave her a winning smile, and she saw Auron's emotion behind his façade.

"Where's Yunie?"


End file.
